HOW TO WRITE A POSTCARD

Good morning and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. I hope your week is going well so far.

Yesterday we saw an example of a postcard in English. We learned some common phrases to begin and end a postcard.

Today we are going to look at some verb forms which are typically used in postcard writing. We will take our examples from yesterday's postcard.

THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS:
When you write a postcard, it is typical to describe what is happening to you at that moment. For this reason, the most common present tense is the present continuous: is/am/are VERB -ING.

Examples:
⇒ I'm having a wonderful time!
⇒ I'm sitting under a palm tree. 
⇒ I am having a piña colada and relaxing.

THE PRESENT PERFECT AND THE PAST SIMPLE:
We can also talk about our past experiences; if we specify when we did them, we must use the past simple (for example, did, went, saw, etc.).

If we do not state a specific time expression, we can use the present perfect, for example, have done, have been, have seen. Contrast the following examples:

Examples:
⇒ I went scuba diving yesterday.
⇒ I have been scuba diving.

SHORT FORMS TO SAVE SPACE:
It is also common to see short (abbreviated) forms of verb tenses. In these cases we don't specify the subject or use the auxiliary verb because this information is obvious from something we have previously written.

Examples:
⇒ Went scuba diving yesterday.
⇒ Having a wonderful time!

Tomorrow we will continue the topic of postcard writing.

⇒ I encourage you to get some writing practice by writing your own short postcard on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky); we will give you feedback about your writing ASAP. And, of course, we hope you will send us a postcard this summer.

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Have a nice day!